Out of darkness, light.
Posted on 01 Mar 2023 @ 12:05am by Captain Patrick Jackson
694 words; about a 3 minute read
Darkness. The void was everywhere. No light, no sound, no sensation of any kind. All that was, was true nothingness. Time, space, laws of physics, it did not exist, there was only darkness. It was nothingness perfected, at least until perfection was broken by a single strobe of light. The light was impossibly small, yet in perfect darkness it flashed brighter than any sun possibly could, then, timeless perfection returned. The perfection broken again at some point by another strobe of light and then resumed.
Something new now dared to disturb the darkness, a sensation, a sensation of awareness. The awareness was limited, knowing that a cool gel substance held the awareness. Something else broke the solitude of the darkness, sound. Soft, slow noises became more clear as a beep. The sounds, slow at first began to ever so slowly pickup tempo until the darkness finally faded away in one final disruption...thought.
The thought was simple, basic, almost primitive. It was a question with only a single word, "What." The thought received immediate answers through the senses. Some kind of firm gel going from top of the back of the head, down the back and arms, the back of the legs and finally the heels of the feet. The sensation of gravity and position of laying on the back. The sound of rhythmic beeping of some kind of machine followed by the soft and steady hiss of gas running through nearby tubes or pipes.
After long moments of rhythmic and steady sound, something broke the pattern, a voice in the far distance that slowly grew louder. "Patrick, are you with me? Patrick?" The name sounded familiar. Who was this person and why was a woman asking for him? Thoughts slowly swirled around until he realized it was him, his name was Patrick. At the realization the mechanical beeps and noises increased slightly. A question formed in his mouth but his vocal chords would not move to vibrate and produce sound. After another attempt, something not any more than the faintest whisper emerged in a voice that was nothing more than gravel produced a single word...."Where?"
"Where?" The woman replied, her voice encouraging but strong. "You are at Starbase 51. Welcome back to the land of the living Patrick." Sounds began to get more clear and distinct. He opened his heavy eyes but only a dull blur came through. Strange, he thought light would be brighter, it should be brighter.
"Can't see." He croaked out, his words more and a little more clear.
"Temporary blindness Captain. That is pretty common when waking up from cryostasis." The voice replied and began touching his neck and face. "Can you lift your right arm?" The woman asked. He tried but nothing happened, to his suprise. He tried a second time with all the strength he could use, his arm trembled but did not get high enough for his arm to come off his bed. Even that little effort felt draining.
"That's fine Captain." The woman said and a soft hand was placed on his arm. "You have muscle atrophy. You had a case of Rigelian Fever before you went under. It is pretty rare but there is a cure, also rare and not near our operation area. With the disease progressing rapidly we placed you in cryo until we could receive the vaccine. Once we receive the vaccine we began activating your body slowly at a pace the vaccine could eliminate the disease with the least amount of harm."
"Days? Weeks?" The Captain asked as best he could.
"Don't worry about that now Captain Jackson. We will get you acclimated and up to speed soon. We will need to start muscle stimulation and zero-g therapy to start getting you mobile again. It will come back soon. Right now, just rest." She said and he heard a small hiss as something was injected.
As the thoughts slowed again, the Marine Captain understood the answer she didn't say. He was not in cryo for days, weeks. It was months, or longer. With that final thought, he drifted back into a dreamless sleep.
[Off]
M.Captain Patrick Jackson
USS Tomcat
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